I am a long term buy and hold investor who focuses on dividend growth stocks

Thursday, December 13, 2018

Dividend Kings List For 2019

A dividend king is a company that has managed to increase dividends to shareholders for at least 50 years in a row.

There are only 26 such companies in the US, and perhaps a couple more in the rest of the world. It is not a small achievement to have been able to reward long-term shareholders with a dividend raise for over half a century.

Throughout this calamity each of those businesses managed to grow earnings, and raise the dividend to their long-term shareholders. If you are looking for a long-term shareholder base, the best way to build it is by paying those owners more every single year. This is a simple, but novel idea for corporations to embrace.

We had one new addition to the list in 2018, which brought the number of companies to 26. This is a record since we started tracking the list of dividend kings in 2010. When I first came up with the idea for the list of dividend kings in 2010, there were only eleven companies on it. While our 2018 list also included 26 companies, I had to remove Target for now, since its streak of annual dividend increases was only 48 years. I am pretty confident that the retailer will hit 50 years in a row by the end of the decade.

The new addition for the current year include:

Commerce Bancshares (CBSH)

The companies in the 2019 dividend kings list include:

Company Name

Symbol

Industry

Years Dividend Increases

Price 11/30/2018

Dividend Yield

10-yr Dividend Growth

3M Company

MMM

Conglomerate

60

207.92

2.58%

9.37%

ABM Industries Inc.

ABM

Business Services

51

31.68

2.21%

3.54%

American States Water

AWR

Utility-Water

64

67.08

1.64%

7.61%

California Water Service

CWT

Utility-Water

51

45.72

1.64%

2.19%

Cincinnati Financial

CINF

Insurance

58

81.73

2.59%

3.53%

Coca-Cola Company

KO

Beverages-Non-alcoholic

56

50.40

3.10%

7.94%

Colgate-Palmolive Co.

CL

Personal Products

55

63.52

2.64%

8.55%

Commerce Bancshares

CBSH

Banking

50

63.02

1.49%

4.41%

Dover Corp.

DOV

Machinery

63

84.89

2.26%

10.96%

Emerson Electric

EMR

Industrial Equipment

62

67.52

2.90%

5.88%

Farmers & Merchants Bancorp

FMCB

Banking

54

712.00

1.97%

4.00%

Federal Realty Inv. Trust

FRT

REIT-Shopping Centers

51

132.09

3.09%

5.37%

Genuine Parts Co.

GPC

Auto Parts

62

103.71

2.78%

6.47%

Hormel Foods Corp.

HRL

Food Processing

53

45.09

1.86%

16.32%

Johnson & Johnson

JNJ

Drugs/Consumer Prod.

56

146.90

2.45%

7.44%

Lancaster Colony Corp.

LANC

Food/Consumer Prod.

56

180.32

1.33%

7.52%

Lowe's Companies

LOW

Retail-Home Improv.

56

94.37

2.03%

19.31%

Nordson Corp.

NDSN

Machinery

54

120.41

1.16%

12.53%

Northwest Natural Gas

NWN

Utility-Gas

62

66.33

2.86%

2.72%

Parker-Hannifin Corp.

PH

Industrial Equipment

62

172.04

1.77%

13.21%

Procter & Gamble Co.

PG

Consumer Products

62

94.51

3.04%

7.25%

SJW Corp.

SJW

Utility-Water

51

56.04

2.00%

3.72%

Stanley Black & Decker

SWK

Tools/Security Products

51

130.85

2.02%

7.09%

Stepan Company

SCL

Cleaning Products

51

80.82

1.24%

7.37%

Tootsie Roll Industries

TR

Confectioner

52

35.01

1.03%

4.53%

Vectren Corp.

VVC

Utility-Electric/Gas

59

71.81

2.67%

3.02%

DGI Note: The prices and yields are as of November 30, 2018. Source: December 2018 Dividend Champions List

Vectren Corp. (VVC) is one company that would likely depart the list in 2019, since it is in the process of being acquired. However, there are three companies which are set to potentially join the elite list of dividend kings by the end of 2019:

Atria Group (MO)
Black Hills Corp. (BKH)
H.B. Fuller Company (FUL)

This track record is a testament to the stability of the underlying businesses that generated the earnings growth necessary to grow the dividend for half a century (and longer). This track record is an indication of a business that is relatively immune to outside shocks. This resilience throughout the period manifests itself into the long stretch of dividend increases, spanning over half a century.

While these companies are not investment recommendations, I post them as examples for further study by serious dividend investors. Studying the businesses, their industries, could give you clues as to the type of business that can flourish over a half of a century.

As I mentioned above, I have been compiling the list of dividend kings since 2010. To view the historical changes in the list, please follow the links below:

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